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The Southwest Area Type 1 Incident Management Team, under the direction of Incident Commander Tony Sciacca, assumed command of the fire at 6:00 a.m. Saturday 5/26. Mandatory evacuations are in place for the community of Mogollon and the Willow Creek Subdivision. Road/Trail/Area closures and Catwalk National Rec Trail Closure are in place on the Gila National Forest. Visit the Gila NF website at www.fs.usda.gov/gila for details. Smoke advisories are in effect. View the Smoke Advisory article under "Announcements" for further information. Smoke projection models are posted in "Photographs." Areas around Albuquerque, Belen, Socorro, Magdalena and Carrizozo will see smoke during...

Abengoa Solar Purchases 3,000 Acres for $1 Billion Solana Generating Plant Abengoa Solar, a Spanish-based solar energy company, has purchased roughly 3,000 acres near Gila Bend, AZ, where it intends to develop the world's largest solar power plant. An investment entity associated with Brandon Wolfswinkel of Tempe, AZ, sold the land for $45.12 million, or about $14,700 per acre. Abengoa Solar, which has solar plants in Spain and northern Africa, will construct and operate the 280-megawatt, $1 billion facility known as the Solana Generating Plant. The plant will use thousands of giant mirrors covering 1,900 acres to harness the sun's...

4/20/2007 - GILA BEND, Ariz. (AFNEWS) -- Missouri fighter wing goes to wild, wild west From the ground, the Barry M. Goldwater Range looks like the set of a 1960's Clint Eastwood spaghetti western. The air is dry enough to taste, and the ground sprouts an occasional cactus. The mind can only envision what creepy kinds of scorpions scurry along these barren sands near Gila Bend Air Force Auxiliary Field. This is home for rattlesnakes, Gila monsters, road runners and endangered antelope. Earlier this year, it was a target for many of the 442nd Fighter Wing's bombs in an operation...

INCIDENT MANAGEMENT SITUATION REPORT WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 2006 - 0530 MDT NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS LEVEL 3 CURRENT SITUATION: Initial attack activity was moderate nationally with 107 new fires reported. Six new large fires (*) were reported, three in the Eastern Great Basin Area and one each in the Southwest, Western Great Basin and Southern Areas. Four large fires were contained, two in the Southern Area and one each in the Southwest and Eastern Great Basin Areas. Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in Alaska, Arizona, California, Montana, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, North Dakota, Texas and Wyoming....